


Factory Settings

by Ringshadow



Series: Trickster Souls [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Sentinel
Genre: Addiction recovery, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Guide Powers, Justin's family, M/M, Protective Tony, Sentinel Senses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 10:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/964815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ringshadow/pseuds/Ringshadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of healing is moving forward. Meanwhile the rest of the world has heard what Justin and Tony are and it doesn't take Justin's family long to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Factory Settings

Pepper’s press conference was closely followed by a meeting that Coulson had with Justin’s company, which he informed them of after and sent them the ‘speech’ he had written to give the board at Hammer Industries.

 

 “I did not apologize for you.” Phil’s voice was flat. “One of your board members actually did ask if you were going to give a formal apology for your near-disappearance and I told him people do not have to beg forgiveness for avoiding a death so horrid he had no ability to comprehend it. While I am on this note, what will likely become a class action lawsuit has started against your doctor Mr. Hammer, so if you like, take solace in that you were one of several dozen people going through withdrawal because of him. I have already passed the information to your lawyers.”

 

 “Thanks. I think.” Justin was sitting in Tony’s workshop, in one of his roadsters actually, the tablet Coulson had given him in his hands.

 

 “Have you made any progress with that material I gave you?”

 

 “So are you an official psychic or is it a well-practiced hobby?”

 

 “Neither. Creepy tie wearing big brother is watching you.”

 

 Tony about choked on his coffee. “Agent, you know you’re more of a creepy uncle.”

 

 “Thank you Stark, so glad to be a part of your family.”

 

 “I am looking at the material, Coulson.” Justin interjected. “Frankly it’s kind of a crapshoot.”

 

 “How so?”

 

 “It’s either aimed for young teens, and thus straightforward to the point I feel condescended to, or so scientific and dense that I’m having to wade through it. Is there anything for adults trying to repair?”

 

 “Honestly, Mr. Hammer, you would think so. But no. Nothing you would want to read. But, there is a very nice series of videos on the internet. I’ll send some links. You might find them more accessible.”

 

 “Thanks.” The call disconnected and Justin looked at Tony. “I kind of like that pushy asshole.”

 

 Tony grinned at him, and pulled up his email as one came almost immediately. “Wow, he sent a youtube link. Ready to trust your brain to the crapshoot that is the internet?”

 

 “Can’t hurt. Can you put it on the tablet, Jarvis?”

 

 It turned out Coulson had sent Justin a playlist, and he settled in to watch. There were two hosts in the video, a guy who seemed military in Justin’s opinion, and a Chinese girl with hair in a spiky pink-streaked modern cut. The videos were filmed in a living room, quite obviously, and the stories came out. The girl was the sentinel, the guy her guide. He’d been a camp victim; she had been a victim of cruel parents. And, finding no real guidance on learning at their age, they decided to figure it out and post videos on what helped them, and what they had learned.

 

 The introductory to sentinel senses video actually made Justin blink a few times. He used his senses all the time, but not like that. It was nothing like they described, and she was a beta sentinel. So after, he tipped his head back to rest on the seat of the roadster, lulled his eyes and tried to let his senses go like the video had discussed.

 

 It wasn’t nearly as easy as she described. Even using them he had to fight with himself, because he had so feared zoning out in the past. Then it was like battering down a wall, knocking on forbidden doors. Cutting wild horses free. He felt himself freeze up as the world went sharp and loud and overwhelming around him. They had called it dials, he imagined them as speedometers, one for each sense and the needles had just buried into the red. A holographic display hung roughly over him because that’s where Tony had left it and he ended up locking his eyes on it, following bright wires of light he could see vibrating in midair. The omnipresent drone of machinery was oppressive, the heartbeat of the world clashing with the pounding of the nearby ocean, whirs of gears and treads of robots and _Tony_.

 

His senses spun, hearing locking on Tony, the cycle of the machine in his chest, the beating of his heart and his breathing, the rustle of his clothes as he shifted. _Mine_ , Justin thought and used that to ground him, the sound and scent of Tony, closing his other senses, focusing.

 

He had no idea how far gone he had really been until he heard Tony speaking in his ear and swam back to the surface of his own mind enough to tune in. “You’re zoned out. Come on, come back to me.”

 

“Whoa.” He said, swallowing slowly.

 

“Welcome back.” Tony was kneeling on the bench seat of the roadster next to him, cupping his face with one hand. “You were projecting crazy hard. Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah man. Just... took everything out of the box I stuffed it in. Kind of dumped it all over in the process.”

 

“Yeah your little cabin in the mountains got kind of Dali for a while there.”

 

Justin blinked and checked his brain space. “If I did that stone-cold sober I am never taking drugs again.”

 

Tony laughed.

 

* * *

 

Justin had spent so long caging his senses, muffling them, that even when trying to use them he'd weighed them down with paranoia and fear. Fear of zoning out and getting caught. Even when going through his certification apparently.

 

He quickly learned that he could hide his senses under his shields, and reach them out from under it. He was not ashamed (though he was embarrassed, somehow) that the first thing he wanted his senses on was Tony. Tony was at his desk again, and Justin had pulled up a stool, sitting behind him leaning so his cheek was on Tony's shoulder, eyes barely open and one arm wrapped around to press over Tony's heart. It was probably creepy as hell but Tony had only smiled and half-laughed, focusing on him right back even as he worked.

 

Justin memorized him. That's the only way he could think about it. His breathing and heartbeat, the reactor, his scent and warmth. This was his guide. He needed to know his guide and be able to find him with any sense. This person was his spiritual home, his lighthouse in the storm that was the world.

 

So he stayed where he was, slipped into his senses and zoned out on his guide, and hoped Tony would let him stay like that for just a little while. Now that he wasn’t panicking as it happened, zoning out wasn’t bad. Yeah it was like being a frozen computer, processes so overclocked he really needed external assistance to reboot and that could be dangerous. But the act of zoning in this context was... oddly enjoyable.

 

He could feel Tony under his shield, a brilliant glow of intellect tinted with amusement and affection, and knew he'd be willing to do almost anything to keep him there.

 

/content/recognition/happy/

Tony smiled a touch, letting Justin lean on his back and hold him. It was a little awkward but there was something oddly ceremonial about it and just for sake of reference he looked it up. Apparently the pose Justin was in, roughly, was typical to a sentinel learning their guide. So Tony left him there even as Justin projected like a radio tower just how content he was with the situation.

 

“Sir, Iron Man's assistance could be used.”

 

“Bring it up for me, Jarvis.” It popped up and he shook his head. “North Korea is posturing. They always are. They don’t have the bite to back up that bark.”

 

“The concern here is a potential weapons purchase sir.” Jarvis brought up images of the ship in question.

 

“That, that might actually be interesting. That profile matches one of our older missile designs. It’s either illicit gear or a great mockup.” Tony enlarged the grainy photos, frowning. “This the best we got in photos?”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Well I don’t want to start world war three over this. They know about Iron Man and they associate me with America. If I show up looking for these they will take offense.” He huffed. “See if you can call Rhodey for me. He'll have a better opinion. More informed.”

 

* * *

 

Justin wandered back up toward consciousness again because he heard another familiar voice, though there was enough scratch to indicate a cell phone.

 

“Tony, please, I understand your concern but if you go looking they might flip their shit and decide to shell Seoul.”

 

“War Machine?” Justin mumbled, mostly to himself but apparently Tony heard him because he laughed.

 

“Welcome back. Got yourself out of that zone, I’m impressed.” He really was.

 

“Hammer?” Rhodes asked after a beat.

 

“Rhodes. Glad to hear you’re well.” Justin got to his feet with effort as everything protected how still he'd been for apparently a while. “I'll butt out. Sounds like hero stuff.”

 

“Close enough anyway.” Tony said, watching as Justin waved it off and left the lab. “You heard right?”

 

“About you and that guy? Pepper told me. What the hell man.”

 

He snorted.

 

* * *

 

Justin wandered up the stairs, finding his laptop bag again and unloading it onto the kitchen counter without thinking about it, yawning.  “Hey, JARVIS. I know Tony hates my rig but I can still get on the internet right?”

 

“Of course, Mr. Hammer.”

 

“Can you just call me Justin?” He wanted to know as he found plugs and plugged in his phone and laptop.

 

“Programming protocols. I respectfully address everyone.”

 

“Naturally.” He muttered, pouring himself a cup of coffee and rummaging in the fridge as his laptop started. At some point fruit and yoghurt parfaits had appeared in said fridge and he grabbed one, basically upending it in his mouth slowly as he turned his phone on. Full voicemail box, he’s not surprised and deleted it en masse without listening to a single one. His email inbox was similar and he did the same thing. Professional, no, but intensely satisfying. “So, another question. Can I put my laptop screen on the windows and do design work on them?”

 

“Of course, Mr. Hammer.”

 

He found a stylus in his laptop bag and hauled it to the living room, eating the rest of the parfait while his software loading screen displayed across the windows. “I know we don’t have any legal agreements between our companies yet, but honestly I just don’t care.”

 

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

 

He about choked on a strawberry, then again as his phone started ringing in the kitchen. “That was fast.”

 

“You have this number listed as your sister. Would you like me to put it on the overhead, sir?”

 

“You can do that?” He wanted to know, and wondered why he even bothered asking that. “Yeah, sure.” He waited for a click in the overhead then managed not to look at the ceiling while he talked. “Hello, Sam.”

 

“Justin! Finally. I’ve been trying to call you for a few hours, but your voicemail box is full.”

 

“I noticed. I deleted it all.” Justin set his parfait down and sipped his coffee. “What’s the occasion?”

 

“Do you mind if I put you on speakerphone?”

 

“Yeah, why not I have you on speaker.”

 

“Uncle Justin?” A younger voice wanted to know.

 

Justin had to grin. “Tommy! Yes, this is your crazy rich uncle Justin on the line. What are you now, thirteen?”

 

“Almost. Next month.” The boy replied. “Listen, I was watching the news on the laptop you gave me. Are you really a sentinel?”

 

He paused a beat, then shrugged. “Yes. I am.”

 

“Oh that explains so much.” Samantha muttered in the background.

 

“Have I missed some family drama?” He was at the windows, sizing the display so it was fairly manageable (the size of a large drawing desk plus a bit more) and opening a new file.

 

“Sounds to me like you have enough drama of your own.” She replied. “Go ahead, Tom, you can tell him.”

 

“I got identified as a Guide last month.” Tom said, sounding hesitant.

 

That made Justin decide to put his stylus down and pay proper attention to the conversation. “Really? Welcome to a very select part of the population, Tommy boy. It’s going to be scary sometimes, and annoying, and it’s also going to be awesome. Last month huh? Tell me about it.”

 

“Did you get headaches?” He wanted to know, sounding much more excited and engaged with the conversation now. Justin pictured him leaning on the table toward the phone, hands spread out on the wood.

 

“Yeah, I got bad headaches and I zoned out a lot.” Justin admitted. “That’s what got me sent to the doctor, the ‘daydreaming’ spells.” He finger quoted even though there was no one there to see it. “Hey you got a video chat program on that laptop?”

 

“I, uh, yeah?”

 

Ten minutes later Justin was sitting on a stool in front of the window display, his work minimized and a video chat screen open instead, showing mostly his nephew Tom and some of his sister in the background.

 

“Did you move? I don’t remember your house looking like that.” Samantha remarked.

 

“Oh, no, this is Tony’s house.” Justin wove the coffee mug in a vague gesture encompassing, well, everything. “I’m using one of his massive window displays to talk to you. He’s downstairs talking Iron Man stuff, I didn’t want to interfere.”

 

“That is so cool.” Tom mumbled.

 

“Okay, so, you’re a guide huh? How did you find out I’m a sentinel?”

 

“I have your company’s facebook friended, and saw the press conference come up so I watched it. It’s all over the news now.” He replied. ”Even if they didn’t say a lot.”

 

“There isn’t a lot to say.” He admitted. “You’re probably way better off than I ever have been kiddo. I know approximately fu… approximately jack all.”

 

“The reason why I said it explains a lot is when I told mom and dad that he’s been identified they started immediately talking about sending him to camp and giving me all this information about reeducation camps.” Samantha explained. “It was kind of horrifying, especially with what the doctor gave me to read about all this.”

 

Justin went quiet, then leaned to set his coffee mug down next to him, setting his hands on his legs and staring at the video seriously. “Realize how serious I am when I say this. If I hear about you putting him in a reeducation camp, I will fly my ass out there with my battalion of lawyers and take custody of your kid.”

 

“Don’t even worry about it.” She wove her hands frantically. “No way in hell it’s happening, it’s just dealing with them you know?”

 

“They tortured us, okay? I really don’t want to get into it but it was torture by any definition, I mean Geneva Convention level bullshit.” He didn’t even bother editing his swearing. “It’s taken this long for me to finally try to fix it and I only finally did it because my guide made me do it. I’m probably going to be fighting to fix it the rest of my life. Don’t set him up for failure like that.”

 

“Mom and dad seem to think they’ve done you a favor.”

 

“They’re idiots, putting a gun to my temple would have been kinder. I love them but I can’t forgive them. May never.”

 

She nodded slowly. “Actually I wanted to ask you. I try really hard not to ask you for anything since you put together trust funds for my kids, but I know that pays out when he graduates high school. I didn’t want to send him to a private school so I found him a really good tutor for this, but it isn’t cheap and it’s going to strain the family budget.”

 

“Bill me. I’ll pick it up.” He picked his coffee back up. “You like your tutor, kid?”

 

“His name is Brian and he’s awesome! He taught me some mediation stuff and how to put up shields so I stop feeling for other people and how to find my spirit animal.”

 

Justin leaned back a bit and grinned. “Damn boy, got your spirit animal already? I’ve got a coyote, what do you have?”

 

“A gerenuk!”

 

Justin blinked.

 

“What the hell is a gerenuk?” Tony wanted to know, leaning with his hands on the back of his sofa and watching this.

 

“I was just wondering the same thing.” Justin admitted over his shoulder.

 

“The gerenuk, latin Litocranius walleri, is a long-necked species of antelope found in bush scrub and desert in East Africa.” JARVIS intoned, pictures and video popping up next to the video chat display. “The name means ‘giraffe necked.’ They don’t drink water directly, so they can survive in extremely harsh environments. In African legend, they are known as the Queen of Humbleness.”

 

There was a long silence, everyone wearing identical faces of mild confusion, then Tom spoke back up. “Does David Attenborough live in Iron Man’s house?”

 

Justin about inhaled his coffee and was still laughing when Tony gave up and moved around the couch, grabbing another stool and sitting next to Justin. “This isn’t a kid from a failed marriage, is it?” He asked, giving Justin a look.

 

Justin punched his shoulder. “No. This is my nephew. That’s my sister looking over his shoulder. Tom, Sam, this is Tony Stark, my guide.”

 

“No way.” Tom said. “I mean I know the news said that, but, wow. You live with Iron Man.”

 

“Mom and dad are going to be thrilled.” Sam observed.

 

“Pft yeah they should be! Mom, dad, look at my gazillionaire hero life partner who’s so handsome they interview him about weapons in GQ!”

 

“Yeah, I don’t do that anymore.” Tony wove it off. “So, okay, my sentinel has a sister? Any other siblings?”

 

“Nah, just Samantha.” Justin said, watching her look over Tom’s shoulder at them. “She’s a teacher married to a teacher, they do okay by my understanding.”

 

“We can’t all be the prodigal son.” She stuck out her tongue.

 

“Right, okay, and your nephew is a… sentinel or guide? Came in too late to hear that.”

 

“I’m a guide.” Tom said.

 

“Well, then, I guess you and I should talk sometimes.” Tony smiled at him. “So, what did you get kid? Empathy? That’s the most common.”

 

Tom leaned and dragged a folder over, looking at it. “The doctor wrote down ‘sympathetic empathy’, which he said is a subset of standard or a, uh, more rare type? He also said I might have some kind of telepathy but it’s really weak, so they’ll reassess when I’m sixteen. What are you?”

 

“Broad-spectrum adaptive empathy.  I hear a lot of stuff, really well, but focusing and filtering is the issue so it’s just nonsense noise to me. So, I usually keep behind shields, mine and his.” He nodded sideways at Justin. “Your uncle is an alpha sentinel, so he’s strong but he’s got next to no control right now.”

 

“My parents wanted to pack the kid off to camp like I was.” Justin remarked.

 

Tony’s mouth drew into a thin line, something dangerous shifting in his eyes. “I have lawyers.”

 

“Yeah he said the same thing. I’m not going to, don’t worry about it.” Sam said.

 

“So, sympathetic empathy.” Justin said, nodding his thanks to JARVIS as the information pulled up where the information on antelopes had been. “I know nothing, clue me in like you would an idiot.”

 

Tom frowned. “But you’re, like, the smartest guy in the family by a lot.”

 

“I’m flattered, but I still have a shortage of information.”

 

“I don’t know much either. I’m reading a lot about it. It’s, like, an empath knows what someone feels but a sympathetic empath can actually feel what someone feels.”

 

“Knowing someone’s hurting versus feeling their pain.” Tony murmured. “You have a fun ride ahead of you kid.”

 

“My birthday is next month.” Tom said, looking up from his files. “Can I, like, get a visit in person for my birthday? Party crashed by Iron Man?”

 

Justin grinned. “We’ll see if we can swing that. Have your mom email me with those details and the stuff for your tutoring.”

 

“Thanks, Justin.”  Samantha said, leaning back into the camera frame. “Any advice on how to deal with mom and dad?”

 

“Tell them Justin’s lawyers said no.” He replied, suddenly feeling oddly tired. “And that they really, really mean it.” He wove, and watched the call end before looking at Tony. “I didn’t mean to spring my family on you.”

 

“Nah, man. It’s good to know they exist. At least you have them right?”

 

“Yeah. My sister’s good people and Tom’s sharp as a whip. I guess this runs in the family.” He scratched the back of his neck. “How goes hero work?”

 

“Well I’m not going to North Korea if that’s what you mean.” He snorted. “It’s just not worth the risk.”

 

“… You know what, I don’t want to know.” He decided. “You busy tomorrow?”

 

“Not as far as I know, why?”

 

“I really should go home and trash all my meds. Would appreciate your moral support.”

 

Tony leaned, wrapping an arm around Justin’s shoulders and leaning their foreheads together, feeling the puzzle pieces between them shift and match up as he did. “Of course. You ready for that?”

 

“Might as well rip off the bandaid sooner than later.” Justin smiled a touch, wrapping an arm around Tony in return. “So. Want to show me how your three-dimensional design software works? I was just going to work off the software I have but I figure…”

 

He grinned and gave Justin a squeeze before letting go. “Come on, come play with my toys.”

 

* * *

 

Justin lived in one of the Malibu seaside houses that was typically used as a summer vacation spot. Tony was honestly surprised when they pulled up to it, Justin getting his keys out as Tony parked. “This isn’t entirely what I expected.” He admitted, looking at Justin. “You live here year round?”

 

“.. Yeah.” He said, looking up at the cottage. “This is what I have. All my neighbors are vacation renters.”

 

“There’s a story here, I can tell.”

 

“Yeah.” He got out of the car, leading Tony up the walk and unlocking the door, holding it open for Tony.

 

Tony walked ahead, slowly looking around. It was an apartment, really, a nice one, two bedroom two bath, very beautiful and light and modern, mostly white walls and stainless steel kitchen appliances. There was blues in the furniture and rugs over a bamboo floor, ocean and sky colors. It all was very relaxing, and very impersonal. “You’re not here.” He finally said, looking at Justin. “There’s nothing of you here.”

 

He shrugged, having shut the door. “I live at work. I have some art up, in my bedroom. I have books here. That’s about it.”

 

“Fucking hell, Justin.” He didn’t think, just moved over and wrapped his arms around him, leaning their foreheads together again. “What happened?”

 

“I got divorced.” He returned the hug, shifting to lean his chin on Tony’s shoulder. “I used to just have a nice house. A small mansion with a big yard. My ex-wife wanted a seaside getaway. When my divorce happened, I sold the house with most of the furniture and moved here. It’s an easy drive to work.”

 

“God damn.” He murmured, rubbing a hand up and down Justin’s back slowly, pressing up against his shields until Justin pulled him in and kept him close. “Did she know?”

 

“Yeah, she knew. It was at best an okay marriage at worst crappy. She cheated on me, I called her out on it because I could smell it on her. That’s about the only time she really got bitchy about my ‘sentinel thing’.” He finger quoted. “It was years ago.”

 

“But you stayed here?” Tony let him go, looking around.

 

Justin wandered to the balcony doors, opening them and standing there, staring out the ocean then looking at Tony. “The water is soothing. When the drugs kept me muffled enough I really didn’t zone out, I could focus on the waves and keep calm. Besides, my house was too big for one person. Selling it fully furnished for a chunk of change to some up and coming pop star let me set up an investment account just to pay alimony to my ex.”

 

“Clever.” He took another look around and wandered, finding the master bedroom and finally finding a sign of Justin. Laden bookcases, a very nice drawing desk, a very nice computer with two monitors. Science fiction artwork, landscapes of fiction worlds. An open walk-in closet showing an array of suits and shirts, a small fortune in fine clothes. He was still standing there, staring around and thinking, when Justin came up behind him curiously.

 

“What’s on your mind?” Justin asked, seeming mostly unsettled.

 

“Move in with me.”

 

He blinked. “What?”

 

“Move in with me.” Tony fidgeted, turning to face him and folding his arms. “Fuck this place. You don’t really live here. We can get a moving crew and tear out what little you care about in, like, two hours. I’ll set you up in my guest room. So you can be close.”

 

There was a silence, punctuated by the crash of the ocean, then Justin sighed. “Let me think about it.”

 

“Well, that’s not a no.” Tony said philosophically, reaching out and lacing one of his hands with one of Justin’s. “You came here to clean out your medicine cabinet. Let’s do that.”

 

* * *

 

An hour and a half later, Justin was handing over a bag of pill bottles to an absolutely stunned pharmacist, requesting disposal of all medication contained therein.  It’d been oddly harrowing, Tony thought, and his sentinel still seemed not entirely himself, muted and off-center. Tony was no different though, the rainbow of drugs that had slowly gathered on the kitchen table was horrifying. Multiple bottles of Auracle, foreign-based drugs, supplements, tranquilizers. Little orange bottles that had stolen years of Justin’s life away, wrapped him in cotton batting to give him a mockery of protection from the world.

 

And it just made him all that more determined to get his sentinel out of that beach house and established in his house. So Justin would be living in a place that had more positive energy, that had been dedicated so far to his recovery, not his isolation and destruction.

 

One step at a time, he told himself, lacing their hands again as they walked out of the pharmacy.

 

And clearly the next logical step involved ice cream, or a candy store.


End file.
